Eatomo Food Co @ Taman Desa

Ever since our usual go-to Japanese restaurant's standard has dipped and hasn't been all that great lately, Eatomo Food Co @ Taman Desa has been our preferred choice for reasonably-priced Japanese food.

So far, we've been continuously impressed with the standard and consistency of the food they put out in our numerous trips to the place (check out my previous reviews here, here and here).  In this visit, I was glad to finally see a much more organised, better categorised and laminated menu (with corresponding pictures of the food) instead of many loose pages (bound hastily together) that confronted me in previous visits.

We started with one of their best-sellers and a firm favourite of ours, the Wok-Fired Spicy Gyutandon @ RM18.90 of prime beef tongue stir-fried with 3 types of chillies...red, green and bird's eye chillies in a spicy shoyu and garlic sauce (I remember it having only red chillies the last time I had it).  Still as good, still a favourite (but you may want to hold the bird's eye chillies if you can't take the heat).

No Japanese meal is complete without a dose of mentaiko, so an order of Mentaiko-Seared Tamadon @ RM14.90 is a must.  Four thick slices of fluffy-sweet tamago, blanketed by savoury-creamy mentaiko that's blowtorched to smoky perfection and (this time) even finished with a sprinkling of salty furikake for an absolutely yummy combination of savoury-creamy-sweet flavours.  Kids would adore this...as would (some) adults! ^.^

I noticed a section of the menu with choices of pasta/mains which weren't there when I was here last.  I zeroed in on the Halibut Fish & Chips @ RM32.90 as the words 'real Pacific Halibut fillet' got my attention. ^_~

The two sizeable pieces of golden battered Halibut fillet was served with fries, a green salad with sesame dressing and a homemade tartare sauce.  The fries tasted freshly fried, the greens (of lettuce, purple cabbage and corn) were fresh and crisp and the tartare sauce (with chopped onions and gherkins) was the ideal accompaniment for the fish and chips.

I liked that I could taste the seasoning in the crunchy batter while the fish was fresh and flaky, perhaps a tad too flaky in my opinion.  It flaked too easily coz as soon as the fork went through it, the fish broke into little pieces making it a little difficult to pick up and eat.  Not my favourite fish & chips.

I've been wanting to order their cast iron speciality of Lemon Butter Clams @ RM27.90 (regular, double for sharing at RM44.90) for a while now as I've heard how good they are.

I can see why this is a best-seller as it was really good.  The lightly cooked live clams were fresh with flavours of the sea but it was the moreish lemon butter and garlic sauce that made it truly stand out.  And serving it in a cast iron pot keeps the clams and sauce really hot and that's why I love it even more! ^o^

All made-to-order seafood pots come with a side of gourmet fries, calrose rice or French baguette.  The recommended side (also the default side unless you state otherwise) for this was calrose rice but I was glad I changed it to the baguette as the well toasted and crisp bread was a good 'vehicle' to soak up the lemon butter sauce.  Though the sauce was slightly salty on its own, it went very well with the bland bread.  I wish I had more bread to soak up all that lovely sauce.

Refillable Green Tea is RM2.90 and all rice bowls come with a complimentary bowl of miso soup for dine-in.

My Personal Opinion

We're always assured of a good meal each time we visit and have no complaints with the standard of the ingredients and cooking consistency of the food served here.

Get one of their poke bowls or rice bowls and you won't be disappointed.  And don't wait until now (like me) to finally try their cast iron seafood.

With another branch in Publika and their latest addition in Bangsar, choose any one of their three branches that's convenient to you if you're looking for a good and affordably-priced Japanese meal.

Eatomo Food Co
11-1-1 Jalan 4/109F
Taman Danau Desa
Jalan Kelang Lama
58100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2303 1608

Prawn Noodle King @ Overseas Union Garden

I've heard about their special mantis prawn mee for a while now and when someone mentioned he'd be interested to know what I thought of it, there's no better time than now to pay a visit to Prawn Noodle King @ Taman Overseas Union since this prawn mee has been on my radar of places to try.

Opened in the last quarter of 2017 (with a second outlet just opened in USJ Taipan in May), this place originated from a stall, known as Penang Seang Lim Toptaste Hokkien Mee, previously located in Pinang Delicious Food Court on Macalister Road, Penang (this was what I read from a Penang food blog).

That stall is no longer in operation but her famous Penang Prawn Mee King signboard has found a new home in the current restaurant.

Walking into the restaurant, the first thing I smelled was the aroma of prawn shells wafting through the air...which wasn't necessarily a good thing.  If it was the scent of freshly baked breads, that's a different story altogether...that I welcome! ;)

Once seated, we were given a laminated hard board menu that contained only 8 items...short and sweet....showcasing 7 choices of prawn mee (with different toppings), priced from RM8.90 - RM20.90 with the most expensive ones costing RM28 or RM35 (for soft shell crab) and RM46.90 (with all 4 toppings) and a side order of Penang Lobak & Prawn Fritters (RM12 for small, RM18 for big).

Although there's a self-order chit, a young man came to take our orders.  Only after he left, I took a look at the order chit and noticed that there was an additional side order of Crispy Salmon Skin (RM8) and a dessert of "Guai Lin Gou" (RM6.50) unless these two are no longer available.

If you don't like prawn mee, then there's really nothing for you to eat here.  My husband isn't a big fan of prawn mee but he was willing to 'stomach' it since there's a siew yuk version...and that's exactly what he ordered, the Prawn Mee with Roast Pork @ RM14.90.

There's only mihun and mee for your choice of noodles here.  The bowl of prawn mee came with the usual prawns, slices of lean pork, taugeh or bean sprouts, fried shallots and half a hard-boiled egg (but no kangkung).  Of course, this one came with additional roast pork where the pieces were thickly cut.  The taste of the siew yuk was so underwhelming (that I'd even say some of those from the wet markets are better) + I found the cuts to be too fatty...and what's worse than fatty meat...tough fatty meat! >_<

My choice was the Prawn Mee with Mantis Prawn @ RM20.90 as I wanted to try something special and unique that's not offered elsewhere (+ I wasn't enticed by their original prawn mee which showed only two miserable prawns).

Besides the usual ingredients, I found fried pork lard crisps (not that I don't welcome them), I just thought it strange they'd be in a bowl of prawn mee.  Unfortunately, these crisps had gone rancid.  Not only that but the store-bought fried shallots were stale-tasting too and not of a good quality (I can confirm they were store-bought as I happened to see from afar one of the servers opening them from a plastic packet).

The texture of the mantis prawns, however, was soft and mushy.  I've had mantis prawns before, cooked in salted egg, butter and milk, marmite or kung po style usually, but they were firm, never mushy.  Ok, maybe you might argue that they were battered and fried, thereby yielding a much firmer texture.  But still, I would think that fresh mantis prawns should have a texture like prawns (some even say that they have the taste and texture close to lobsters).  That could explain why it originally looked like some kind of minced meat (in many of the photos online) which actually turned out to be tiny bits of prawn meat (coz they were probably mushy when peeled, thus resulting in tiny bits).

As for the prawns, they were almost non-existent...I found only two smallish ones! O_o  It was the same with my husband's bowl of prawn mee with siew yuk as well.  Even the photos of all the prawn mee options show only two tiny pathetic prawns.  This is a prawn mee for crying out loud...what happened to the prawns? :P There was a generous amount of lean pork that was good as they were thinly sliced.  As for the hard-boiled egg, I found the whites a tad too firm (it was as if they had been left steeping in the prawn stock for too long judging from the stained exterior).

But, more importantly, how did the prawn broth fare?  Well, at first sip, it wasn't any where near the good ones I've had.  Although it did have the desired prawn-y undertones, the soup was somewhat thinner and the prawn flavours also tasted slightly different to the usual ones I've had.  I can't explain it...it's just different. Is it possible they could have used mantis prawn shells (or something else) in the broth?  Hmmm, I wonder. Either that or the type of prawns they use just didn't have that inherent sea prawn sweetness.

The sambal (chilli paste) is available tableside for you to tweak the spiciness level to your liking.

I held back adding the sambal initially as I wanted to taste the unblemished broth first.  It did taste better with a spoonful of sambal added.  Somehow, the broth in my husband's bowl tasted different from mine (mine had more flavour and was slightly sweeter).  I wanted to re-taste my husband's broth again but, by then, it was too late as he added loads of sambal to try to cover what he terms as a disappointing broth.

This was the Penang Kopi-O Ping @ RM3.50 (is there such a thing as a Penang version of kopi-o-ping?).  Did it taste any different from any local coffee?  Nope.  Did it taste better?  Nope.

Side Story #1

I ended up sitting at a table nearest the cashier counter.  The expression on my face must have said it all until the young man (that was serving us) noticed and came round to ask us how the food was.  I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't like almost all the ingredients in the bowl, so I just said that the pork lard was rancid.  He apologised and brought me another plate...I said thank you but no (coz, even though I'm crazy about crispy pork lard, it doesn't mean I like it in everything...and prawn mee was definitely one of those dishes where it shouldn't be there) + they didn't taste like those freshly fried, super crispy ones, with glistening oil all round, that I seek.

Side Story #2

If you check out their Facebook page, you'd see photos of someone frying up large quantities of prawn heads and shells to make their prawn broth (they claim to use up to 1,200 kg a month!).  I really don't know where all the prawn heads and shells came from seeing each bowl has so few prawns (just two, maybe three) in it! O_o  Hmmm, I wonder if one can buy just prawn shells?

I was also taken back as to how many videos (and lengthy ones I might add) the owner uploaded when I visited their Facebook.  It gave me the impression that he was more passionate about showcasing himself than his prawn mee...kekeke! :D

Side Story #3

From the blogs online, I noticed the prices for the prawn mee have increased (from last year) from RM6.90 to RM8.90 (for the original prawn mee) and RM18.90 to RM20.90 (for the mantis prawn mee) and they've not even been in operation for a year.  Well, with the price increase, you'd think they would at least give more than two miserable prawns! >.<

I found an old 2016 blog post that reviewed the prawn mee stall in Penang...and do you know how much was the mantis prawn mee then?  RM9!!  And we have to fork out RM20.90 now for the same bowl....that's a bit too much, don't you think? :P

My Personal Opinion

The two more successful things here were probably the broth and the sambal.  The prawn mee, though decent by many's standards (judging by the mostly good reviews on Google and their Facebook page), just didn't endear itself to me on a personal level.  I think the failure of the ingredients (of prawns, fried shallots, hard-boiled egg and pork lard crisps) and toppings (of siew yuk and mantis prawn) spoiled my overall experience of this prawn mee and ultimately made it one that I don't think I'd be revisiting.

In the end, I'm afraid this prawn mee will not make it to my list of favourite prawn mee to have.  I have a lot more other better (traditional) prawn mee options at my disposal...and one that comes with more prawns and cheaper prices too.  I can have two big bowls, with big prawns, for the price of one here...and with change to spare! ;P

Prawn Noodle King
4 Jalan Hujan Rahmat 3
Taman Overseas Union
58200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7971 8117

Kannichikan Yakiniku @ Old Klang Road

After enjoying our dining experience at Momotalo Yakiniku in Desa Sri Hartamas recently, we wanted to try the other Japanese barbecue in the same area.

But that was before we realised that the same Japanese barbecue place has another outlet nearer to us, Kannichikan Yakiniku @ Old Klang Road, which took over from Gyutaro Yakiniku that was previously managed by them as well.

Taking the stairs to the first floor, the place looked spanking new.  Besides the main dining area, there are also some partitioned spaces for a more private dining environment (which we chose to sit).  The place was pretty quiet when we were there on a weekend and, glancing around, I noticed that the place is mostly patronised by Japanese and foreigners (I think we were the only locals that evening).  If it's good enough for the Japanese, it should be good enough for us, right? ;)

Looks like Christmas came early at KNK (this visit was in early November!) seeing that they're all decked up already for the coming holidays.  It's beginning to look like Christmas....everywhere we go! ;)

Right after our orders were made, the first things to arrive were a plate of raw cabbage, garlic and the sauces.

On one side was a salty dark sauce that looked like a combination of soy with sesame seeds and spring onions and a wedge of lemon on the other side.  On the table were two small containers filled with chopped garlic and a chilli paste.

Unlike Momotalo, the server did not offer to mix the dipping sauce for us, neither did he mention how it should be mixed.  We were on our own.  Luckily, from my experience at Momotalo, I knew roughly what to do and proceeded to mix the sauce ourselves.  So, I spooned some chilli paste and fresh garlic into the sauce and added a squeeze lemon.

Mixing everything together, I did a taste test.  OMG, it was too spicy...I must have spooned too much chilli paste into it.  I think it would have been better if the server mixed it for us (like how it was done at Momotalo).

Realising my 'mistake', I asked the server for more soy so that I could add that to my dip to reduce the heat. She brought me a big plate of soy and I poured some over into my dip.  It was much better.  The balance I used as a dip (which I ended up liking more) as it had that zesty tang of lemon juice in it.

After liking our first experience with beef tongue, that became our very first order here...a combination of Beef Tongue + Under Tongue Meat + Pillar Tripe @ RM37 (marinated in just salt and pepper).  But they ran out of tripe (not that I minded), so we were given more of the other two meats instead.

First impression when I saw the beef tongue was that it didn't look anything like the ham-like round discs of meat we had at Momotalo before.

Taste wise, the beef tongue (on the left) was also not as flavourful and tender as the one I remembered eating at Momotalo.  I ended up liking their under tongue meat (on the right) more as it was (at least) a bit more marbled.

I saw Australian Wagyu Ribeye @ RM52 on the menu and I wanted that.  I think this was one of the cheapest wagyu beef on the menu.  Needless to say there were other more premium Japanese wagyu offered...but those were also at premium prices! :'(

There were six fairly thick slices of wagyu ribeye together with some slices of pumpkin and eggplant.  You can also see that the beef wasn't that well marbled either.

Trying my darndest not to overcook my ribeye...I think I did a pretty good job! :P

Maybe because the slices were cut a bit bigger and thicker, I found it more chewy than I thought it would be. Maybe if I had a knife to cut it into smaller pieces (instead of having to chew it apart with my teeth), it probably would have felt more tender.  The flavour was alright but, in the end, I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

Of course, Pork Belly @ RM24, marinated in their in-house sauce, is a must-order if it's on the menu.

This fatty cut of meat grills really well....coz once the fatty bits get into contact with the coals...it's sizzle, smoke, the more sizzle and smoke, the better! ;D

Just look at the well caramelised edges of the pork belly slices...yum!

We enjoyed this so much, we immediately ordered a second helping....but, as you can see, we got a leaner cut than the first plate.

Less fat, less caramelisation happening! >:(

End result....still good but not as good as the first plate.

With enough orders of meat, we went with the Seafood Moriawase @ RM71 featuring a mixed seafood of marinated salmon, prawns, scallop and squid.

All four types of seafood were really fresh.

Of the four, my ultimate favourite was the prawns.  I liked that the body was deshelled which allowed for more of the lovely smoked flavour to penetrate the prawns...and ultimately more caramelisation as well.  Ridiculously good! ^o^

Besides the prawns, I absolutely loved the salmon.   It was so fresh you don't even have to cook it all the way through.  The extremely soft and tender texture of the salmon made it difficult to lift them off the grill without breaking bits of the flesh.  So tasty :)

The squid and scallops were decent too.

We didn't need to order any vegetables since we got some pumpkin, eggplant, corn, onions and cabbage with the dishes we ordered.

Rice is RM4 a bowl.

Refillable Green Tea @ RM6 per person.

Complimentary juicy and sweet Watermelon Slices at the end of the meal.

The produce was certainly fresh...but the salmon, prawns and pork belly stood out against the rest.

Since there was no offer from the servers to grill the meat for us, I had to assume that this was a GIY...'Grill It Yourself' kind of place (unlike Momotalo where they'll ask if you want them to do it for you).  They use "binchotan" or what is known as white charcoal here which has a much higher temperature than black charcoal, so grilling time is minimal.  We did overcook our first round of grilling but we learned quickly not to leave it on the mesh for too long.

Though service was attentive, it wasn't very proactive.  I noticed the servers peeking into our 'cubicle' ever so often (which was kind of awkward at times) but they offered no assistance whatsoever (in the grilling) except to clear the empty plates.  They also failed to notice our half empty glasses and didn't offer to refill our green tea.

Throughout our meal, the servers gave us only one small plate each (to place our cooked meat) which I felt wasn't the most ideal since we had to distribute the meat immediately once they were taken off the grill.  I would have preferred to have different plates to place the different proteins and we can each take what we want and eat at our own pace.  So, I asked for more small plates.  Well, guess how many they gave us?  Just two more! O_o  I didn't know that plates were such a 'precious' item here.  So, even though overall service was alright, it fell short of my expectations.

My Personal Opinion

Service aside, the food was still good though prices are notably higher than Momotalo.  Since the beef didn't shine, I'll probably skip that and just concentrate on the seafood and pork.

Your opinion will probably be swayed by the mostly Japanese clientele you see frequenting this place but I actually prefer Momotalo for the beef and service.

The one thing I did like over Momotalo is the brightness, cleanliness and availability of partitioned spaces for a more private dining.

The place does deserve a revisit if I want a mainly seafood (and pork) BBQ though I'd rather give the one in Desa Sri Hartamas a try instead of this one...just to see if there is any notable difference.  In the end, did it endear me as much as Momotalo did?  Probably not! ^_~

Restoran KNK (Kannichikan Yakiniku)
23-1 First Floor 3rd Mile Square
151 Jalan Kelang Lama (Batu 3 1/2)
58100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7972 4011